Changing Covid-19 testing rules forces Chinese groom to watch his wedding on a live stream outside the ceremony venue

The restaurant changed how soon the guests had to take a PCR test to be allowed to participate

It meant that the groom and about 20 guests were stuck outside the wedding until their same-day Covid-19 tests came back negative

Reading Time:2 minutes

A Chinese man who got caught in a testing mix-up watches his wedding on a broadcast. Photo: SCMP composite

Published: 6:00pm, 28 Apr 2022Updated: 4:06pm, 29 Apr 2022

Part of getting married in China during the Covid-19 pandemic is ensuring all bureaucratic boxes are ticked for the big day.

Unfortunately for one groom in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang autonomous region in western China, keeping track of changing rules was impossible, forcing him to watch a live broadcast of the wedding on Tuesday on WeChat while standing outside the restaurant where the ceremony was held.

“The restaurant told us a day before that we needed to bring a negative nucleic acid test result within four days, but, at 12am on the wedding day, they told us that everyone had to have a negative test result within 48 hours,” the groom, surnamed Deng, 28, said in a video on Douyin, China’s TikTok.

“As a result of that changing requirement, my test was out-of-date, so I went to the nearest hospital and took another test.”

His friend took a viral video on Douyin with a caption that read “A first in Xinjiang: a groom watched his wedding ceremony through live video”.

Deng laughs as he is filmed watching his own wedding outside the restaurant. Photo: Douyin

According to Deng, in addition to himself, about 20 guests were barred from entering the building.

Because the tests took some time to turn around, Deng had no choice but to wait outside the wedding.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x